Schools to text truants minutes after first bell

Absent pupils will be texted by their schools within minutes of the first bell as part of a new government scheme to combat truancy. The service will be introduced by the Department for Education in around 400 schools with 'persistent absence' problems. When a pupil is missing, an automated text will be sent to the pupil or a parent saying, 'please inform us if there is a reason for not being in school today'. If the school fails to get a response it will call the parents.

The new measures come after ministers admitted that truancy in England's secondary schools is at least 18 per cent worse than first thought. New figures suggest around 43,000 pupils skipped secondary school every day last year.